Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 10
1 Why do You stand far off, O Lord?
Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked persecutes the poor;
let them be caught in the devices they have planned.
3 For the wicked boasts of his soul’s desire;
he blesses the greedy and despises the Lord.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek God;
God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always prosperous;
Your judgments are high and distant from him;
as for all his enemies, they scoff at him.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
for generations I shall not meet adversity.”
7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue is mischief and iniquity.
8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
in the secret places he murders the innocent;
his eyes lurk against the unfortunate.
9 He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den;
he lies in wait to catch the poor;
he catches the poor, drawing them into his net.
10 He crouches; he lies low,
so that the unfortunate fall by his strength.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten;
He hides His face; He will never see it.”
12 Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand!
Do not forget the humble.
13 Why do the wicked despise God?
He says in his heart,
“You will require an account.”
14 You have seen it, for You observe trouble and grief,
to repay it with Your hand.
The unfortunate one entrusts it to You;
You are the helper of the orphan.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
seek out his wickedness
until You find none.
16 The Lord is King forever and ever;
the nations perished from His land.
17 The desire of the humble You have heard, O Lord;
You make their heart attentive; You bend Your ear
18 to judge the orphan and the oppressed;
man on earth no longer trembles.
False Trust in the Temple
7 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: 2 Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim there this word:
Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah, who enter at these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in lying words, saying, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” 5 For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your deeds, if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your harm, 7 then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. 8 Indeed, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.
9 Shall you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, 10 and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, “We are delivered,” so that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Certainly, even I have seen it, says the Lord.
12 But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. 13 And now, because you have done all these works, says the Lord, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to this house, which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of My sight as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
A Rest for God’s People
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear His voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion,
on the day of temptation in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested Me and tried Me
and saw My works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
and they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”[a]
12 Be attentive, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, and you depart from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence firmly to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion.”[b]
16 For who were they who heard and rebelled? Was it not all of those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He grieved for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
4 Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest remains, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For the gospel was preached to us as well as to them. But the word preached did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed have entered this rest, as He has said,
“As I have sworn in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”[c]
However, His works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For He spoke somewhere about the seventh day like this: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.”[d] 5 And again in the present passage He said, “They shall not enter My rest.”[e]
6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and they to whom it was first preached did not enter due to unbelief, 7 again He establishes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David, after so long a time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts.”[f]
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have later spoken of another day. 9 Therefore a rest remains for the people of God. 10 For whoever enters His rest will also cease from his own works, as God did from His. 11 Let us labor therefore to enter that rest, lest anyone fall by the same pattern of unbelief.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.